Ok, so this is my firs day journaling this part of my vegan fitness/bodybuilding journey. Its been a year (a bit more) that it started. Last year, this date I just wanted to finish losing the last couple of pounds and reach my ideal size (I've never been a big fan of the scale, rather rely on how clothes fit). Anyway, my goals started to change and as I've traveled farther in this road and learned more about the sport (bodybuilding) the desire to grow more muscle has increased. I'm regarded as a freak as it is in this town (imagine not eating animals by choice, not because I'm sick or anything ), imagine now! Some people boldly come up to me and ask me why do I come to the gym (you're too thin already) why would you like to be more muscular, why do you wanna look like a man???? (Small town people, tsk tsk!) Anyway, it was easier to lose the pounds (82 in total) than to gain the muscle. I've managed to increase my strength significantly, and there is some muscle and definition here and there, but I hardly look like an IFBB pro, or am anywhere near to benchpressing my own weight. To state the truth I look thin... Some days I feel like Popeye's Olive Oil (was that the name of his girlfriend?).... I'm still getting the hang of vegan nutrition for performance and results....

On another note, I've been following Jamie Eason's Live Fit 12 week program, I'm on week 6 now. I'm kind of following the nutrition guidelines that aren't vegan friendly, and making substitutions here and there. But there's a problem here: I've started to lose weigh and I don't want that to happen. And the minute I eliminate cardio and increase food intake (in the form of starchy carbs I admit) I start to grow a pouch. I still look thin, but with a flabby pouch!!! :'-(

So that's basically the situation here: once an obese omnivore, now a scrawny vegan... well at least I have biceps that can be seen when I flex, LOL. But I want my arms bigger. And my legs. And the cuts. I want it all.

Enough of my worries already, let's get into the juicy stuff here: today's workout and diet.

Went to the gym at 6:00am, with two young kids there isn't any other time. This was my workout today:

Still nailing down this nutriition thing... is like the day isn't long enough to fit 6 meals in it. And if I increase the portions, I'm not hungry when. Its time to eat again. A while ago I set alarms on my phone to remind me the times on which I have to eat. I need to eat plenty, otherwise I lose weight, period. Today I fell a meal short. When I weighted myyself this morning, I. Was 118, which means my weigh hasn't increased. In my ideal world weight should be increasing, and I should be looking more muscular and cut. I still look, well... slim. Ironic how my worries have changed: when trying to lose the weight, I wasn't losing fast enough or the weight was increasing (due to my poor eatinng habits). Now is like I'm always falling short on food. Guess I have to start eating earlier (before workout)... Is just that I workout so early! Well, sacrifices need to be made, even if it means eating my first meal before my workout, eventhough I prefer working out on an empty stomach.

On another note, today I trained Chest aand Abs, followed by moderate cardio. Aaaah this moderate cardio thing on this rainy season. Nothing more boring than the elliptical machine or stationary bike. Besides my bad knee won't let me run anymore... Speed walking sounds like a great substitute, but in reality it aint that appealing... Ah well!

It's worth mentioning that I still get that little "butterfly in stomach) sensation before I perform pushups, 'cause I still kind of expect that I won't be able to do it. It took me so LONG to be able to perform even one that I'm still surprised I can nail 3 sets of 15.

Still working on those narrow ones, still have to do them on the knees, well my strength is increasing everyday, so in time I'll be able to nail those too!

Soooo, this is my third entry of my fitness journal, but actually this is the 6th week of a program I've been doing. I'm really happy with the workouts, I feel my body positively responding and adapting., my strength increasing. I decided to continue with the workouts and take advantage of the meal plans offered here to help me plan my nutrition.

Today was leg day, my least favorite body part to train. Not only legs are my weakest part, but also the flabbier and on top of it all, my arthritic knees won't make my training any easier. I've found that being careful with the form, especially when squatting has helped me not only too get stronger, but this time knee pain has been practically none existing. And that's good! So here's what I did today:

Leg extensions: 2/30 light (warm up) 20 lbs

Wide stance BB squat 2/15- 65 lbs2/failure heavier-75lbs

Leg press 4/8 (shoulder width stance)(3 without weights, last one with 25lb disc)

Last night I fell like a LOG on my bed, so I couldn't update my fitness journey log. Yesterday was arms, abs and cardio day and I really kicked proverbial rear end! LOL. This is the workout I performed:

Today was intense, so I'll eat accordingly, LOL, but as clean as I've been eating so far.

About my meals, I've been eating ever 2.5 hours, since I cooked in advance, I have several options: vegan chili, seitan, vegan burguer patties (home made) and what I call my "protein muffins" which are basically vegan burguers (TVP, seitan, beans, oats) baked in the shape of muffins. Lots of veggies and fruits: starfruit and guavas(organic from my own backyard), bananas and pineapples. And of course my power smoothies, made with either coconut or soy milk, flax seeds, protein powder and the fruit that fancies me at the moment. Ok, now I'm hungry, off to load on some quality fuel!

Well, yesterday I "didn't workout" because I had a hectic day ahead and my gym was closed. Since it was supposed to be my rest day, I did not schedule a regular workout, but ended up feeling totally guilty, so before I showered I decided to warm up a bit (last set of all exercises to failure)

Regular push ups 5/12

Renegade Rows ( 10 lbs DB) 5/12

Burpees (10 lbs DB) 5/15

One leg standing calf raise (20 lbs DB) 5/20

Bodyweight Squats 5/30

After a very hectic day, I behaved pretty well at the Christmas Dinner table. My hard acquired healthy habits seem to be here to stay, yey!!!!!!!!

Anyway, today was supposed to be a rest day. Instead I woke up early to a crisp morning, so I went for a long walk to clear my head. When I came back, did power yogaa for an hour, then shower, then a hearty breakfast of left overs, LOL! All vegan and healthy of course! I'm getting prepared for a routine change tomorrow, last four weeks of this program I'm doing (Jamie. Eason's Live Fit) I have seen changes in my body, in strength and definition. After I'm done with this, I'm moving on to the next level of fitness: contest prep. Wish me luck!!!!!!!!

Today marks the beginning of the 7th week of LiveFit program. I made a mistake when calculating the weeks left, I'm 6 weeks away from finishing it. So far so good! I'm loving the workouts and seeing increase in strength. I still need more definition and volume, but dedication, patience and consistency will get me there.

Today I planned going at it early. It was LEG day, which I loathe, I confess. Training legs with arthritic knees isn't a piece of cake. The perk is that since I can get injured pretty easy, I have to be extra careful with form, so my form has improved in all lower body exercises, especially squats

My knees and ankles have been in bad shape this week so I tried to go easy on them. I reduced the weight in some of the exercises.

Nutrition wise, I started my day with sunflower seeds and a banana, pre-workout. Post-workout protein shake, nuts and a banana. Had some whole wheat bread for BF, and coffee (yep, I know, it wasn't the smartest choice)

For the rest of the day I'll have lots of fresh veggies and batatas (related to sweet potatoes, but not orange, more like a pale yellow), beans and some cooked corn meal (the coarse kind). Of course, some fresh fruit (I was thinking pineapple), seeds and avocados. Power smoothie coming in the afternoon!

Today I feel super tired for some reason. Maybe I need more food! Or maybe I'm not getting enough rest. Maybe I should. Just lie down the whole day, eat and sleep to give my body the chance to recover. Tomorrow I'm most definitely I'm stretching for a LONG time before I even start my workout.

So today was Chest/abs/cardio day. This is what the Fitness Girla did today:

My knees are still in pretty bad form. Should've kept the weight light, now I'm paying the price. Today was back, delt and cardio day. Didn't do cardio, for obvious reasons. When it hurts like this I can't walk, bike or pretty much anything that involves leg use.

So this is my first entry of the year. Kind of funny that just when I decide to take up a challenge, a trip presents itself. Anyway, I'm not afraid of messing my nutrition, I'm afraid of not being able to workout hard enough and lose my progress. Well, yesterday I worked out a bit, to at least avoid getting rusty. Worked shoulders and biceps, and a little triceps, kind of a spur of the moment workout. This is what I did:

Food is being a problem, I have so many places to go and people to see... that I don't have time to eat, so I'm eating very little, and after becoming vegan and losing all the pounds, keeping the weight up has been challenging. Ah well, at least I continue to eat clean!

yesterday was my rest day, but I workoed out anyway! I was advised by my coach to do do a whole body routine every other day since I'm on vacation, so I decided to start yesterday with that type of routine. I'm still dying to hit the gym here, but I don't have anyone to baby sit for me.

The workout I posted yesterday belonged to the day before, because I didn't have internet signal, so I couldn't upload it. So here's yesterday's workout: